A Life Gone By

We both slept well and of course being in the military you get used to waking up at a certain time every morning whether you want to or not. By six in the morning we had fucked each other senseless and had taken a shower. We also had sex in the shower and finished showering with cold water. We finally got dressed somewhere around noon and Tammy called my apartment. Karen answered it but was breathing hard. We knew her and Bill was not through so we hung up and waited.

The four of us kept up our activities for four more months until it was time for me to go on a five month training mission. I knew I would miss Karen, Tammy and Bill but I also knew nothing was going to happen before I got home. I knew Bill's time in service was limited but was not sure when he would get out. He was discharged before I got home. When I opened my apartment door it was eerily quiet. Nothing seemed to be missing but I went to look around inside. When I got to the bedroom all I found was a note on the bedside table with Karen's wedding ring acting as a holder for the note. My heart sank, NOT AGAIN.

It started out just like any other "Dear John" letter many of us receive while away doing our military duty only this time it read "Dear Jim".

"Dear Jim. I know this may come as a shock to you. I know you have been burned twice in the past by ex girlfriends, but I could not help what happened while you were gone. I missed our sexual escapades and Tammy, Bill and I continued without you. I fell in love with Bill and Tammy. Tammy didn't have a problem with the three of us in bed together. When Bill got his discharge I couldn't bear the thought of both of them leaving. So I went with them. I left divorce papers in the night stand drawer for you to read over. Sign them and take them back to the Judge Advocate General's office to have them filed. I am not contesting anything nor do I want anything from you in the way of support. We decided that when we get to Bill's hometown the three of us is going to live together and support each other. Just so you know, Tammy is six and a half months pregnant. We all believe that the baby is yours. I am two months pregnant and we know Bill is the father. Please do not try to find us. I hope you understand and I am sorry about what happened. Please believe me I loved you while we were together but I just fell more in love with Bill and Tammy. Have a good life. I hope you find someone worthy of your love and affection."

It was signed, "Your former lover and wife. Karen"

Now this is where I always thought I would know exactly what I would do if something like this ever happened to me. I had thought about tracking them down but what good would that really do? Karen and I had been married seven years, she was pregnant with Bill's child and gone. I wanted to kill all three of them. Instead I went and filed the papers. It was a clean divorce and became permanent in three months from the time I signed. I was to get out of the military in another six months and opted not to re-enlist.

When the time had come, I went home. It reminded me of what my younger brother has said "Blood is blood and spouses are just passing through". How right was he?

It took me four years to even consider dating again. I had taken a job as cop in one of the larger metropolitan areas about one hundred miles from where I grew up. I still had not heard or been contacted by Karen, Bill or Tammy. I was just merely putting in my time at work and going to my apartment or to the bar. I really didn't have much of a life outside of my job as a cop. Two years after my probation period as a cop, I was promoted from a street patrolman to a training officer. I liked that a bit more because now I had something to focus on.

As I was in the eleventh week of training a rookie, we had a family disturbance call just on the edge of our routine beat area. We got there and I felt something strange pulling me into the house. My gut instinct was to be very cautious. As I entered, I saw two young children over on the couch crying. I found Karen a bloody mess in the bedroom. It looked as though she was barely alive. There was also an older woman that was injured. We called for an ambulance for the two women and for social services to come to get the two kids because we were not sure what was going on yet. They arrived about the same time the man of the house arrived. It was Bill. The woman lying on the floor was an elderly neighbor. I was wondering where Tammy was at. She arrived home from work ten minutes later. She still looked good. I secured the area as best I could and had everyone separated from each other. I had already called dispatch and asked them to send another officer and the shift supervisor over.

When the shift sergeant arrived I explained why I could not process the scene properly. He said he under stood and that I could just keep the scene secure for now. I knew I was going to read the report later to ascertain what had transpired at their house. This is what I found from reading the report.

Since the three of them moved into the area just over a year ago they continued living as a threesome family with two kids. Bill had starting working as a master mechanic at one of the local new car dealerships. Tammy had also started working as a secretary for some insurance company in the area. It had been decided that Karen would stay at home and take care of both babies. She could teach the kids and take care of them at the same time. Apparently Karen had met a guy three months earlier and was having him over at the house for sex every once in a while. He got jealous over her living arrangements and wanted her to move in with him. She refused to leave and he literally beat the crap out of her and did not stop hitting or kicking her until the neighbor came over because of the noises she was hearing. She told him the cops had been called already and he needed to quit what he was doing. As he ran out the door, he back slapped the elderly lady so hard it knocked her back and she fell against the fish tank spilling it contents everywhere. The police department immediately issued a warrant for his arrest.

There was not anything I wanted to do about the situation so I let it drop. I was thinking how nice the kids looked, how nice Tammy looked and how concerned Bill looked when he got there. Since Karen was in bad shape, I really did not know how she would look without all the blood on her. Even then she didn't look too bad. I just knew I wanted nothing to do with any of them. I did want to find out which child was mine if for no other reason but just to know.

I moved on. Seeing the three of them left some bad tastes in my mouth. I knew I needed to forget about them. Three days later, my rookie partner Fred, asked me to come over to his house for a weekend B-B-Q he was having. I told him I would love to. I didn't have any real important things to do anyway.

That is where I met Lucy, his wife's sister. This was a damn fine looking lady. I was thirty years old now and starting to get lonely. I think Fred set this whole thing up for her and me to meet. I did learn about her. She was twenty-seven, and widowed with one child. Her husband was killed overseas when he was on his second deployment with the Marines. Her husband was a TOW missile gunner. He was due to finish his last deployment just a month before he was killed. They have a five year little girl name Danni. Lucy and I talked most of the day.

"Lucy, would you like to have dinner with me possibly next weekend?"

"I can't. I have something else planned"

I was a little disappointed about it and just told her "Oh, I understand"

"No, I don't think you do understand" she said.

She asked me to come to her house next weekend because she was having a birthday party for her little girl. She was turning five in three more days but was convinced to hold off having a party until the weekend when everyone could come to see her and wish her a happy birthday.

"Jim, I would like for you to come to the party. See if I date anyone they have to understand my little girl comes first."

"I fully understand" I said. "I would love to be there. Is there anything else I might need to know or do I just try to pick out a gift for her?"

"On no, don't bring her anything. She doesn't know you and wouldn't expect anything from you anyhow."

"OK, thanks, what time?"

We settled on the time and she gave me her address. At the bottom of the paper she also had her phone number on it. Well I am making headway. If nothing else happens I would be out of the apartment somewhere besides the bar or a baseball game somewhere. I really was looking forward to doing something besides nothing but killing time. I also didn't want to run into the trio that caused me so much pain almost six years ago. Fate has a way of stepping in to cause happiness or sadness. This time fate took the form of sadness for me.

As I was out on patrol, Fred filled me in on what happened since the trio had their unfortunate events. The guy that assaulted Karen and the elderly lady had been caught and jailed without bond. He was a repeat offender and a flight risk. He was being held without bond. In his official statement he said he and Karen were having sex and he told her he wanted her to move out to be with him. She told him no. She and the other two are a triplet together and he was just a distraction for her during the day once in a while. She does not love him and has no intention of ever leaving her home. He got mad, lost his temper and started pounding on her. The old lady scared him enough to stop and as he left, he backhanded her which cause the fish tank to fall over. All said and done, according to Fred.

I knew I would eventually cross their path sooner or later. I just didn't know how I would react to at the time. When it did happen I tried to be as cold and uncaring as I could be. I would not let them see any emotional stress as I hid my feelings. That was not an easy thing to do.

The birthday for Lucy's baby was going to be the next day so I headed over to the local toy store that had nothing but toys for all different age children. I picked her up a teddy bear that was made up to look like a cop and a gift card for Mickey D's. Lucy thought the gifts were cute. Lucy's baby girl loved the cop bear. That in itself made me feel good. Right then I felt Lucy and I may have a future together. Her daughter's name is Danni and she was named after her dad Danny. I thought it was cute.

It was two weeks later I received a call from Tammy. She wanted to meet up with me and try to explain why they left me the way they did. I really did and did not want to hear anything about it. I decided to just go with the flow and listen to her. I did not want to see Karen or Bill though and I told her that. She informed me that neither one of them was going to show up.

"Jim" she started. "After you left to go on your last training mission we were not going to do anything behind your back. The three of us agreed it would not end well. Less than a month after you left, the three of us got together and Karen and I wound up making love while Bill sat in the chair next to the bed and watched. We all found it to be so erotic that Bill eventually joined us in the bed. He would fuck one of us and while he was fucking one of us we would eat the other one out. Sort of a train if that is what you want to call it. We continued doing it just about every night.

Since our apartment and your apartment would be an added expense we all decided to just move into you and Karen's apartment. It did save us some money too. You were supposed to be gone for five months and during that time we decided we wanted to be together as a family. We did know Karen was pregnant. We also knew it was Bills. Bill and I had not had sex for six weeks before you left. Afterwards the four of us started doing it more and more. We both wanted you to get me pregnant. And it worked. The little boy at the house is you son. We named him James after you, his father. The little girl is Karen's, her name is Sue. The kids know each other as brother and sister and we have no intention of telling them any different. The three of us love each other so much we could not stand the idea of either Karen or me being shared with you ever again. Even though you are a good man, we wanted to be exclusive with each other. It has worked out pretty good until Karen got lonely and met that animal. Neither Bill nor I knew anything about him until that day. It has somewhat strained our relationship but we are still together. We finally understood her reasons for doing it. I think Bill has forgiven her but I am not sure I have. I felt betrayed. Just so you know Jim, we all still love you but not like we should as a couple should love their mate. I just felt you should know what happened. The three of us have matching wedding bands too. I am sorry for what happened but I would not change what happened so long ago. I hope you understand."

"Well I really don't know what to say, but I appreciate you telling me about it. Is there something you need me to do about James or is everything working out for you three as a whole?"

"No, there is nothing you need to do and there is nothing we need from you. I just felt you needed to know."

With that she got up and left. I felt saddened now knowing I had a son and that I would not be in little James' life but I was not going to insist on seeing the kid. At least now I knew what happened and why it happened. I knew I could get over it. I was used to being burned. I called Lucy and asked if I could come over to talk. She agreed.

"Lucy, I need to tell you something. After I finish speaking you can ask me to leave and not bother you again or maybe we could go out for dinner and maybe a movie. Of course if we go out, I want little Danni to go with us. But right now I just need to get something off my chest if that is OK?"

She looked a little worried but agreed to let me come over the next night, which was a Thursday. With a heavy heart I told her about my life story. She had this look of shock on her face and was quiet for what seemed like eternity. It might have been only five minutes but it felt like eternity to me. I started to get up to leave but she grabbed me by the hand and pulled be back to the sofa we were sitting on.

"Look at me" she said. "I am glad you felt comfortable enough to tell me all that. Right now I am not sure how to digest all the information but I don't want you to leave just yet."

Just about that time, Danni came into the room rubbing her eyes with one hand and the other clutching her cop teddy bear. I smiled when I saw that. When Lucy saw what I was smiling at she called Danni over to us and she climbed between Lucy and I. I hugged the little girl and she hugged me back. Right then I had a gut feeling about any future I was going to have with Lucy and Danni.

"Danni" Lucy said. "Would you like to go to dinner and see a movie tomorrow night?"

Danni smiled at her mommy and then she smiled at me and asked me if I was going to come too.

"I will if your mommy says I can."

"Jim would you like to take two young ladies to dinner and a movie tomorrow night?"

All I could do is smile and told them both I would love that very much. So I had a date with not one but two ladies for the following night. I went home but not before Danni hugged me and kissed me on the cheek and said "Thank you"

Mommy hugged me too. I even though I went to kiss her on her cheek, she turned her face just enough to make lip contact ever so briefly. Even though it was brief, I felt something of a shock as our lips met. I went home a very happy guy. Even Fred noticed something about my demeanor had changed the next day on patrol. He told me I did not give out one speeding ticket that day, so something was up. All I could do is smile.

Before the end of our shift we receive a call to head over to another family disturbance just down the block where Karen, Tammy and Bill lived. It was just a lot of screaming and we were able to quell the noise before we left. Fred gave them the riot act that and if the police were called back they would start making arrest. Alcohol was involved so we asked the drunken husband to go find somewhere else to sleep for the night and come back in the morning when he sobered up. He left and so did we.

We cruised by Bill's house just to do a follow up and make sure everything was OK. I had not seen Karen since her beating. It had been over a month now and I really did not know what she would look like. When we knocked on the door, she answered it wearing typical short pants and a tee shirt and tennis shoes. I wanted to make sure Fred was there so nothing would happen between Karen and I. I really was not sure of my feelings for her at that moment.

When she opened the door she just stood there looking shocked to see me. She had healed from her beating and she still looked pretty good. She let us in and then I saw the two kids playing on the floor with some toys. I smiled at the kids and Karen told them to come over to meet me and Fred. I looked at the boy and realized he did look a lot like me. I could only smile more. Karen realized I knew he was my son. She introduced us as Uncle Jim and Uncle Fred. I did choke up a little but held my own. We told her we were there just to do a follow-up of her case and to make sure she and the kids were all OK.

We talked about general things and after about ten minutes I told Fred it was time to go. He told her it was nice meeting her and hopefully we will not have to come back in an official capacity. I was somewhat misty eyed as we left and Fred knew something was bothering me. He asked me if I wanted to talk about it.

"Fred, right now I need to get home, get cleaned up and get ready to take a very lovely lady and her cute little girl out to dinner and a movie. I don't want to think about anything else for the time being. If it is alright with you, I'll tell you later, just not now."

He said he understood and we returned to the precinct office to check out and head home. When I got there the answering machine was blinking. I checked and found out it was from a blocked number so I just listened to the message.

"Jim, I am truly sorry for the way I left you while you were on your last training mission. It's just that the three of us fell so madly in love with each other we could not bear the thought of either Tammy or me being with you or anyone else. We tried to wait but decided we absolutely did not want to have a confrontation with you before we left the apartment together. So we left about a week before you were due back. I am sorry that you found out the way you did, but I can't go back and change that now. I hope you have forgiven me and moved on. You know I will always a special place in my heart for you. Goodbye and be good." And the dial tone took over.

That phone message put a damper on my planned evening. When I picked up Lucy and Danni we headed over to the restaurant. Lucy knew something was bothering me. I tried to explain that I didn't want to discuss it right now because I had a date with two wonder looking ladies and I intend to enjoy the evening. She let it drop, at least for the time being.

After eating at Danni's favorite five star restaurant, Mickey Dee's she picked out a movie she wanted to see. It was one of those Disney movies so how could you go wrong with that? It was a good movie but it gave me time to think about what first Tammy and then Karen told me. I know I was not very attentive to the movie. We headed back to Lucy's place. I had to carry Danni in because she fell asleep in the back seat. Lucy smiled as I laid Danni down in her bed. She told me to go sit down in the living room and she would be out in about five minutes while she changed Danni into her pajamas.